1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a product collecting device for use in an apparatus for coating seeds with gel wherein a surface of a gel coated seed which is coated with high molecular gel is immersed into a hardening agent for a definite time, after which the gel coated seeds are put into a water wash bath so as to remove the hardening agent from a surface thereof. The gel coated seeds are then discharged with the water from an end portion of the water wash bath. Thereafter, the gel coated seeds are collected separately with respect to the water.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally speaking, seeds are planted without coating. There are coated seeds to protect the seeds from damage by coating the surfaces thereof with coating material. In the conventional art, there exists a coating technic for seeds which are coated by molding with dusting powder, the object of which is capable of being planted by means of a mechanical seeder. Accordingly, the seeds which are unnaturally helped to germinate early can not be planted by the present mechanical seeder.
In this conventional coating method for the seeds, the seeds are sprayed with adhesive agent called binder thereafter it causes the coating agent to adhere to the surfaces of the seed by using a drum. Accordingly, it is difficult for an ordinary farmer to practice this coating method in a small-scale.
Two capsulization apparatuses which cause seed and the like to seal into capsules by using high molecular gel are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. sho 62266137 and sho 63-197530. It is difficult for two capsulization apparatuses to control the number of enclosures, capsule diameter and hardness of the gel coated layer, since both apparatuses cause the enclosure to disperse into gelation agent when dropped into the hardening agent. The applicant for solving these problems has made an apparatus (referring to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. hei 4-141007) for coating seeds with gel for automatization in one continuous operation from coating of the seeds to the water separation . A gel coated seed is roughly formed to a certain size of spherical body by coating the seed with gel film and then the gel coated seed is dipped into the hardening bath filled with a hardening agent for a definite time so as to harden only the surface layer with a required thickness. Thereafter, the hardening agent is removed by washing the gel coated seed and then separated therefrom.
The water wash bath, the hardening bath and the collecting mechanism of the apparatus as described above will be described. As shown in the plan view of FIG. 10, the hardening bath 3 is provided for the watercourse stand 2 suspended within the casing 1.
The hardening bath 3 comprises a receiving part 4 into which the gel coated seeds are supplied in such a way that the coated seeds drop into the receiving part 4. A conveyance passage 5 is connected to the receiving part 4. A partition wall 6, an upper end of which is sunk into the hardening agent is provided at a left end portion of the conveyance passage 5. A screw conveyor 8 is rotatably supported between the partition wall 6 and a right end wall 7 of the conveyance passage 5. A sweeping blade 8a is fastened to a carrying out side (right end side in FIG. 10) of the screw conveyor 8. A coupling 9 couples the screw conveyor 8 to an output shaft of the motor 10.
The output shaft of the motor 11, which is provided for an outer bottom wall of the receiving part 4, is coupled to an impeller 13 within the receiving part 4 through the coupling 12. The hardening agent contained in the hardening bath 3 streams from the receiving part 4 to the conveyance passage 5 by virtue of the revolution of the impeller 13.
The hardening agent, fed to the conveyance passage 5, is circulated by way of a pipe passage 14, a pump 15, and a pipe passage 16.
On the outside of a carrying out port 17, provided for the right side of the conveyance passage 5, a chute 18 is provided therefor which has a slope becoming low toward a pointed head of a lower part, and the bottom wall pierced with many holes. A water wash bath 19 is provided for the downward direction of the pointed head of the chute 18.
The water is contained in the water wash bath 19. A pipe passage 20, which is connected to the right end portion of the water wash bath 19, is coupled to the water supply source.
An overflow tank 21 which has a net on the top surface is provided for the left end of the water wash bath 19 as the water is exhausted from the overflow tank 21 outwardly, the gel coated seeds are carried to a sliding way 22 in such a way that the gel coated seeds roll on the net. Then the gel coated seeds are fed to two feed screws 24 passed through a hopper 23 from the pointed end portion of the sliding way 22. Thereafter the coated seeds are shifted from the feed screw 24 to a belt conveyor 25 by virtue of the revolution of the feed screw 24.
As described above, the gel coated seeds are supplied to the receiving part 4 of the hardening bath 3, then they are fed to the water wash bath 19 through the conveyance passage 5 for a definite time, and they are shifted to the belt conveyor 25 by virtue of the feed screw 24 after separating the rinsed coated seeds from the water.
However, there are the following problems in this apparatus for coating seed with gel:
(1) For the gel coated seeds, the net of the overflow tank 21 for the water wash bath 19 is insufficient for water separation from the therefore the extra separation mechanism has become necessary in which only the gel coated seeds are carried while removing the water on the feed screw 24. Consequently, there is a defect that the whole structure of the apparatus for coating seed with gel becomes complex. PA1 (2) The water separated from the gel coated seeds can not be retrieved sufficiently by the net of the overflow tank 21 and the water drops downward on the feed screw 24, with the result that collecting equipment which can retrieve the water comprehensively becomes necessary.